Starting Late

Hello Greg,
I have a little question here. Piano has been the dream of my life. When I was 13 yrs old, I took piano lessons and I was crazy about it. I practiced hours and hours everyday, my piano teacher said she rarely heard anyone played so well and made so much progress in little time. I dreamed to be a concert pianist, but got sometimes discouraged since I started late. Then I quitted piano completely only after a few months of piano lessons, since my school notes got down drastically (I never worked for school, I played piano all day long). My parents got worried over my exam results, so I stopped. Now I am 29 yrs old, married and have a boy of 2 yrs old. I need to play piano, something inside me says to me that I need this to make my life complete. So I bought a new piano recently and contacted a good piano teacher. I'm not dreaming to become a concert pianist, but I want to get serious this time and practice hard everyday. Do you think if I continue to practice consistantly, I will be able to play piano very very very well? I have not started the lessons yet, I will start in January 2009 since I am going away for Christmas to another country (I am married to a French doctor and live in France, so far away from my home, and I am going home for Christmas for 1 month). I have a great passion for classical music but never got the chance to have a deep musical education. If I start piano lessons in January 2009 and practice hard everyday, when do you think I will be able to play beautiful sonatas from Mozart or Chopin or the like? I dream of piano everyday, please answer me, I will appreciate that very much. Thank you.
  - Anne

Dear Anne,

That wasn't a little question. ;-)

I can give you a little response though -- If you truly practice hard and efficiently every day, then you can learn anything, even as a 29-year-old. It may be a couple years before you are able to tackle the Mozart sonatas and several more before you get to Chopin's, but certainly, they are within reach.

Practice hard!

- Greg